Arogog lived!

"Aragog (c. 1942—20 April, 1997) was a blind Acromantula owned byRubeus Hagrid. Like the rest of his species, Aragog had a taste for human flesh and was able to communicate with humans. In his youth he was the size of a Pekingese and near the end of his life was about the size of a small elephant. [...]"  (Source HERE)

Found him outside our dining room window,  just minutes ago!! 

Over the size of a quarter.

(looking out the window)

(looking into the window)

Apparently this one was a cat- faced spider, just huge and harmless.

and dead.

Sharing a giggle

L, (6 yrs. old)

Came to lessons with hill billy teeth.

I laugh out loud (literally)

every time I look at this picture.

I love my piano kids.

Your welcome. 

In honor of the release of the last movie

Enjoy some FUNNY Harry Potter youtube videos!

Funny

I saw this while web surfing a few days ago and I had quite a laugh over it.

catching up...

I feel so behind, it's May and my calender is still in March (the one in my room, I use my ipod mostly). So back to April, Joseph had an awesome April Fools Day. He was substituting for the 2 morning seminary classes that week. He went in dressed like this:

And yes, he did that without help! I was sick and sleepy so when he came in and got his goodbye kiss, I told him that he looked weird. Mission Accomplished, right? And since it was the day before General Conference he gave a test, what do you remember from last General Conference. Sis. Wright doesn't believe in giving tests for seminary but Joseph had this set up good, it was a double-sided test and on the front was a normal test and on the bottom of the back it said "April Fools!" in bold. Yea, he got them good. The best part is after he was finished teaching we went grocery shopping in WinCo and man, the looks he got were awesome. A real Aprils Fools Day success.

A Tale of a Tail...or two or three

Parties Involved: Joseph, Valerie, Speckles the cat, Spot the snake, a mysterious noise under the fridge & myself of course.

Our silly cat has been stalking the fridge for a couple weeks, which isn't out of the ordinary she has the habit of stalking the dishwasher while it's running. But a few days ago both Joseph & I heard a mysterious noise coming form under the fridge. With Valerie's help we cleared off the fridge and pulled it out . it was dirty back there so we grabbed the broom and mop, I swept across the back of the  fridge and out popped a little brown mouse! Within seconds Speckles had the mouse & ran down stairs with it, and released it! Right into Mom's sewing/ craft area! So we immediately started tearing apart the whole area. Val wearing gardening gloves (to get the mouse from the cat) and I was armed with a flashlight to see into the many areas the mouse could be. That's about when Mom and Dad got home.. to a path of wreckage from the kitchen to downstairs. The cat was going crazy in the confusion. Eventually it came down to one box we lifted it and before any of us could blink the cat had the mouse again, Val grabbed it from her and dashed upstairs to feed it to spot the snake.

The End...

P.S. Mom has now completely reorganized and cleaned her sewing/ craft area. The cat was rewarded with treats and the mouse was eaten by Spot (the next day). Mystery of the noise under the fridge? Solved and Resolved.

Our Fortunes

A couple weeks ago we went out to lunch 

our fortunes read:

Remember three months from this date! Your lucky star is shining.

Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you.

Just had to share.

The Story behind the painted piggies

This is Joseph's second pedicure. 

Our first "his and hers" pedicure, 

happened in the days right after Joseph was diagnosed blind. 

We needed to do something for us, something new, 

something together to remember that would be positive. 

After that one I Double-Dog Dared him to get a color the next time.  

The next time happened to be after I finished Swim Lessons this summer, 

I needed one badly! No self-respecting man would back down from a Double Dog Dare, right? 

He didn't. My brave man did get a color, I was ready to let him back out, but he did it! 

At least he picked a manly color!? LOL. 

The day after our pedicure, 

we went to Spokane to see his family and newly engaged brother. 

Joseph kept the nail polish on, brave soul wanted to show his Mom! 

What a great first impression for Sam's in-laws!!

 At least they got to know that we are a couple that likes to have fun,

 including Double -Dog Dares and epic follow throughs.

My Uncle is famous!

Sam Lincoln is Uncle Mick, That's awesome!! So funny!!

Saving our Garden!!

One Morning Val comes busting into the room.

"I need your cat,

there are hundreds of birds outside in the garden, eating it!"

"okay.."

Our silly cat sees the birds,

flattens herself into the grass (to be sneaky, I'm sure).

Then proceeds to do the slowest slow motion army crawl in the direction of the birds.

No help at all!

So we let Cookie outside to take care of the birds, instead she turns around and sits on the step and looks at us like "why did you kick me out"

So lets get the big dog, he'll get them for sure!

We send Tonka out.

He also sits on the step and looks at us through the door with a sad face...

Come on!

So Val and I grab the BB gun and air soft and shoot at the birds.

Problem solved.

Cookie Speckles & Tonka

Somedays....

It went down like this... (short story style)

(This is the true story, thanks for your comments, and as you read you will notice that I incorporated all of them into my little story, look for them)

It was a chilly morning and in the slight breeze fog hung thick. As we departed for our journey that day we knew we would arrive our destination with time to spare, we had plenty of time and we had everything we would need. Little did we know the events that would unfold on our way. The trip started out well enough, my handsome companion Joseph and I were alone, and enjoying our time together. Julius (our car) kept us warm, comfortable and entertained us by playing lovely tunes, a soundtrack for our jaunt to Spokane (my birthplace). We were heading to see a magic man, called a neurologist, who looks at brains.

Remember the fog? Fog is a funny fellow, he loves to play tricks on us poor mortals, you know. He would tease, and leave for moments just to return to us full and thick the next. His best trick though is to persuade you to think you are moving slow when in fact if you aren't careful you could accidentally engage warp speed and miss your destination completely, or leave the planet entirely. Luckily, that was not the case with us, however we were traveling much faster than that of the posted speed limit signs. (And in the right direction, we didn't get lost.) I looked down, and discovered my error, but it was too late, curse you fog!

Without my knowledge a police officer had clocked me doing 81 in a 70. He turned on his spinning red, white, and blue lights, signaling me to pull over to the side of the road. I did so. This short, round, kind faced man approached my window and checked my papers (you know insurance, registration, license). He left and went back to his squad car. I was upset, can you blame me, really? The magic man only waits so long and if we were late he may not see us. The officer noticed my distress.... I must stop to explain that there was no crying, wailing or gnashing of teeth present from myself. However the officer was so moved at my demeanor that he called another officer to join us.

The man that came was a tall, and slender man with a very large hat. He approached my window much like the round man, and he asked if I would exit the vehicle and speak to him. I did. He was so very sweet, I was led to stand beside him out behind our car, on the side of a cold and long highway. Things then unexpectedly took a serious turn that held me in complete surprise, apparently my emotional response to the first officer alarmed him so much that it must have seemed necessary for this conversation (or something very close) to take place :

"I wanted to talk to you and make sure that you are doing okay, I was informed that you were pretty upset when you were pulled over. Are you doing okay?"
"Yes, I am fine."
"Are things going alright? Are you in a fight or something? Does your husband ever hurt you?"
Shock and bewilderment hit me, full force. And must have read on my face as I responded,
"What? No. Never. My husband is wonderful and wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me.
"Well we just wanted to check and make sure you didn't need help or anything."
"Thank you I appreciate it, I was just upset about being pulled over."
"So, where are you guys headed?"
"We are headed to see a nuerologist in Spokane."
"A nuerologist huh, so why are you seeing a nuerologist in Spokane?"
"My husband has MS and has had a recently had a flare up and he needs to see this nuerologist, who specializes in treating MS"
"Wow, MS that must be upsetting for you"
"Yes. sir."
"And that must be pretty tough to deal with."
"Yes, yes it really is."
"Now that we know what is going on, you are free to wait inside your vehicle." "Thank you, Officer."

Shortly after this conversation, and after rejoining my loving, albeit worried husband in the car, the round officer approached my window. He took pity on us in our situation, and gave me a ticket for going 75+, thus reducing the fine by $50. (And just so you know, I have already paid my ticket,my first real ticket -that wasn't totally bogus! Seeing as how I obviously earned it.) We continued on our way at a much slower pace, as you can imagine. That little stop cost us 30 minutes,and $93. If it weren't for a handy cell phone, we wouldn't have bean able to call the office of the magic man, and let them know we were going to be late.

Following all of this, we did indeed make it to see the neurologist, and had a productive appointment with him. You should know that Spokane is a busy place, with many one way streets, but for a talented driver like myself and no immediate need for crazy turns, donuts or swirly maneuvers, we found our destination, and also a cute Italian restaurant in which to dine and toast our birthday. Then off to DQ where we got caught up eating ice cream, because it is the best treat in the whole world.

-S

(comments please on my awesome story!)

FSA Conference/ road trip

As you know I had a road trip through Portland for the Families Supporting Adoption Conference, it was amazing I learned way too much to have included in this post. But I loved it and it was totally worth a road trip alone. The drive was lovely, the colors of fall are so vibrant in Oregon (Wa. Too) it's been so long since I have experienced a real fall. I was driving in and out of rain storms, I saw more rainbows than I can count.

So, I got to stay with these people:
you can check out her post on it HERE, I love how she describes how she knows me, and yes it's true we stayed up 'til 2 am chatting, it was fun! :)

Sierra Seth & Porter

And meet this cutie for the first time:



Then after the conference I stayed with these people:

My Aunt Kim, Uncle Shane and Carly Brooke Macey Isaac and Paige

Funny story, I showed up minutes (literally) after they left for a roadshow, I was tired and hungry so after phone calls between my mom my grandma and another aunt I had the code to the garage to get in and I took myself out to eat. So I changed into PJ's and talked to Joe and then slept for an hour before Kim called and let me know they were on their way back. Then I had a slumber party with 4 out of 5 of those cute kids. Our sleeping arrangement was hilarious. They have a sectional couch downstairs that's where we slept, I slept in the bend, Isaac on the floor, Brooke cuddling a leg, Macey by my head, a hand in my hair for a long while, and Paige on top of or next to me. (she is 4, and was very serious when she said she wanted to sleep with me) at one point in the night she had kicked Brooke in the head so we moved her to the floor, a while later I woke up to that cutie hitting me in the face with a pillow and hearing her cute voice "Shaylee, I want to sleep WITH you!" Believe it or not I slept really well.

Although I wasn't planning on it I went to sacrament meeting with them (Brooke and Macey had there Primary program- they broke it up into jr and sr there are a ton of kids in their ward!) So I packed my stuff and went (in pants- I told them later they can say I was an investigator, or the truth I was traveling and I had no skirt) I managed to find my way back to their house so I could follow the google map instructions to get home (beleive me it was a little complicated) but the drive went smoothly and I made it home it time to take a small nap then get dressed for church and go to choir and meet with our Bishop... and I have a new calling!

The End.
J/K

I am the second counselor in the Primary Presidency.

Until next time

-S

De-Stressers

After the last post I enjoyed these little beauties from my inbox, thanks Jess.

Quickly, some funnies

I did two pretty funny things this week...

Numero Uno: I have come up with a solution to tail gaiters. While riding in the back of my Father's Army Jeep. (it's orange, and all open) Keep in mind it was over 100 degrees outside and we were moving in an open jeep. I thought it would be funny to have an ice cream cone. Yes, it was funny, and really messy. Aparently, tale gaiters don't like it when thick white cream hits their windsheild! It was melting faster than I could eat it and we were moving so fast it splattered in all directions, my dad even ended up wearing some too. I was laughing so hard, I bet you would too if you saw us.

Numero Dos: I sprained my wrist. Well this fact isn't funny on it's own. It's how I did it. I sprained my wrist during family pictures... we were taking a picture with us girls holding my brother Dustin up. I took the heavy end and somehow turned my wrist wrong and almost dropped him. Thus injuring my poor wrist. Funny still.

-S

1st celebrity swine flu fatality...

And we all know who gave it to him!!

*giggles*

-S

For those of us who are watching our what we eat...

... here's the final word on nutrition and health.

It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION:
Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you

*giggles*

-S

Sometimes I feel like this...

but it's been a while!

-S

A direct line...

Funny thing: My parents phone has talking caller ID. The best is when my mom calls from the seminary building, the phone says and I kid you not... "call from Jesus Christ". Yup, seems that we have a direct line! Ha ha, not really.

Pray Always.

-S

26 Things to do in an ELEVATOR!

1) When there's only one other person in the elevator,
tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't
you.

2) Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock.
Smile, and go back for more.

3) Ask if you can push the button for other people,
but push the wrong ones.

4) Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and
ask if they know what floor your on.

5) Hold the doors open and say your waiting for a
friend. After a while, let the doors close, and say,
"Hi Greg. How's your day been?"

6) Drop a pen and wait until someone goes to pick it
up, then scream, "That's mine!"

7) Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the
elevator.

8) Move your desk into the elevator and whenever
anyone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.

9) La y down the twister mat and ask people if they would
like to play.

10) Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets
on, ask them if they can hear ticking.

11) Pretend you are a flight attendant and review
emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.

12) Ask, "Did you feel that?"

13) Stand really close to someone, sniffing them
occasionally.

14) When the doors close, announce to the others,
"It's okay, don't panic, they open again!"

15) Swat at flies that don't exist.

16) walk around the elevator and ever once in a wile, poke a wall, and
say got ya

17) Call out, "Group Hug!"and then enforce it.

18) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and
muttering, "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"

19) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while
peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"

20) Stand silently and motionless in the
corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

21) Stare at another passenger for a while, then
announce in horror, "Your one of THEM!" and back away
slowly.

22) Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to
the other passengers.

23) Listen to the elevator walls with your
stethoscope.

24) Make explosion noises when anyone presses a
button.

25) Stare, grinning at another passenger for a while,
then announce, "I have new socks on".

26) Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and
announce to the other passengers, "This is MY personal
space!"

-S